Weighing my meaties

[havery]

So I've got 27 Red Rangers and 5 Cornish Xs. The rangers are 3 weeks old, the cornish are 2 weeks old. I've been taking an average weight of them mostly out of curiosity and partly because I've got a bit of an Excel obsession and love me some data. Especially since this is my first round of meat birds (I've only ever had laying hens before) and I'm curious about growth charts.

I knew the Cornish grew fast, but holy cow! They have more than doubled their weight since last week, the rangers are steadily doubling each week. I know this will slow (won't it?!), but I wasn't expecting these huge birds this fast. Here's my weekly weigh-in averages so far:

Red Rangers
Week 1 - 3.5 oz
Week 2 - 6.8 oz
Week 3 - 11.8 oz

Cornish X
Week 1 - 6 oz
Week 2 - 13.6 oz

My biggest Cornish (I'm assuming a roo with his huge legs) weighed in at a solid pound at the 2 week weigh in today, so he's skewing the number a bit, but not much! Even without him, the CX have clearly overtaken the rangers already, even though they're a week younger.

I kind of wish I hadn't been so scared of Cornishes to start, but the five I got to replace the stress losses from shipping my Rangers might change my mind. On the other hand, I'm much more impressed with the vitality and liveliness of the rangers and feel like I'm not going to have to baby them as much, even if they are slower growing. Only time will tell, as well as if there's a difference in taste since I'm not really terribly concerned with the money part.

If anyone is interested, I'll post a full growth graph comparing the two after we're finished butchering the rangers (I'm aiming for 11 weeks for them, 6-8 weeks for the Cornishes depending on how they do). I'll also have a breakdown of feed amounts, though I really just started doing that this week since they went outside and my pullets aren't influencing the numbers anymore.

As a bonus, here's the week 2 picture of one of my rangers next to a black Australorp pullet of the same age:

 

[Chick Charm]

Good data makes for great processing results. Keep em coming.

Thanks for posting your results.

 

[kacklinkelly]

I tried cornish cross a couple of years ago and was astounded at their growth rate. The roos began crowing at 9 weeks. I live in an HOA community so they didn't last much longer than 10 weeks. I didn't get the full benefit. I had one already failing at that age. Couldn't stand any longer and others were actually walking all over her. I thought it was much more work than necessary and boy did they stink. My next attempt will be with the slower growing red rangers. I will be following your results to help me in my decision.

 

[havery]

I'll probably try to do a batch of just Cornishes in the fall as well, if I can get customers to buy them (it shouldn't be hard, my area is void of good ethically raised meat and there's a growing population of younger people who want it). I'd like to have a larger sample size of Cornish X to rely on to make my decision going forward next year.

 

[WIchickens]

Following for sure!

I am going to do my first go round of Cornish x at the end of April. The hope to do a batch of red rangers over the summer since they tolerate the heat better and can forage more.

How long do you leave the Cornish x on starter feed? The feed in on sale this week, so I am trying to figure out how much to buy!

 

[havery]

My plan right now is to keep all on a 20% protein starter/grower until they hit market weight. I'm still researching about a "finisher" but I'm not convinced yet it's really necessary, plenty of people skip this and don't see any difference.

My local feed store mills a 24% feed that the kids use for their livestock show birds, but I'm really scared to go that high and have problems from too fast growth before I'm ready to butcher!

It's all a learning experience for me right now!

 

[Chick Charm]

I've used 24% with great results. Depending on your cost will determine paying more for 24% while analyzing the end weight. I like doing small batches and I don't see the $ difference as when I do larger 25-50 batches.

You can process a week sooner depending on your weight goals.

A few I've let get real big in the 13 pound range but prefer 5-7 lbs.

Here is a brute we ate after 13 lbs.

 

[Berisas]

I also just started into the meat birds, have been raising egg layers for a few years.
I started weighing my chicks this week also keeping charts. I have 12 red Freedom Rangers 2 wks old feeding 20% non gmo feed their weight the smallest one is 9 oz. the largest is a whopping 15oz.
Most of them average around 13 oz.
Here is my list of breeds Date of Hatch and weight.

Breed Qty D.O.B Weight

Red Freedom Rangers 12 D.O.B. 3/18/2015 (2 wks. old) Date weighed 4/4/2015 Range from 9 oz. to 15 oz.
Black Gourmet Broiler 1 3/18/2015 11 oz


Cornish X 1 1 2/21/2015 (6 wks) 4/4/21015 5lb. 1 oz.

Delaware 3 2/21/2015 4/4/2015 From 12oz to. 1lb. 3 oz.

Light Brahma Roosters 2 2/21/2015 4/4 1lb. 5 oz
L. brahma hens 3 2/21 4/4 1lb. 1 oz. average

White Rock Hen 3 2/21/2015 4/4 1 lb. 1 oz. average

Barred Rock Hen 3 2/21/2015 4/4 1 lb. 2 oz.
Barred Rock Roosters 2 2/21 4/4 1lb. 4 oz.

Rainbow Rangers ( red dixies) 3 2/21 4/4 2lb. 3 oz average

New Hampshires 4 2/21 4/4 1lb. 3 oz


I have a question if any one might know I purchased the Delawares since they were used as a meat bird I think that they are small for that purpose, does anyone else keep records or know if mine are smaller than average ? I was thinking of crossing some of these with one of my other heritage breeds to see what would happen if I could get a decent size meat bird by 12 to 16 wks.
.

 

[havery]

I hope someone can answer your post about the Delawares, but I was under the impression that although they were the original meat bird, they simply can't hold a candle to the new hybrids. Eventually they'll get to a good butcher weight, but I wouldn't expect them to perform anywhere close to a ranger or cornish. And I've done a lot of research as I'm interested in sustainability, but everything I find says they're going to be much smaller even at 16-20 weeks at around 5 lbs live weight (and that's being generous). I don't know about a growth chart, hopefully someone can help you with that!